Hero
by Evident-Rust
Summary: With so much evil in this world someone has to stand up and fight.   Rated M for language and over all just in case.
1. Hero

Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. I just like to play around in their universe.

**Hero**

He stared down at the city below wondering where the next stupid criminal would show his stupid face. New York never rested. He wished that he could do more for the city he loved, but he was only human and had to sleep from time to time and eat. As if on cue his stomach growled to remind him of that very fact. At least he didn't have to worry about where his next meal would come from. On a good night the Waverly Substation was a place where he could usually eat for free. He briefly let his mind wander to the smell of the sub shop. The familiar scent of fresh bread mixed with the aroma of fries was almost too much for him to take. The memory of the lemon meringue pie was playing on his mind when he heard a scream.

"Help!" A woman's voice shouted above the sounds of the city. If he had allowed himself to get lost in his hunger pangs he might have missed her call, but luck was on the victim's side. He leapt from his roof top station and landed with a thud on top of a dumpster. He bolted to the concrete and his feet hit the ground running.

"Get your hands off me!" He heard the woman's voice clearer now as he raced in the direction of the trouble. Rounding a corner he spotted the struggle. A large man with meaty hands and an ugly mug had a blonde woman pressed up against the side of an abandoned pawn shop. A bright yellow purse laid on the ground at their feet its contented scattered around like the a dropped bag of treats. She twisted her face away and tried to free herself from his grasp.

"No need to scream now," the man said, "I have a better idea of what you can do with that mouth," the man grunted as his eyes raked down the length of her body.

"Please don't hurt me," the woman said her voice breaking as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"I ain't gonna hurtcha," the man replied.

"Damn right you're not." Both the woman's and the attacker's heads snapped in his direction as he spoke.

"Get the fuck outta here before I make you leave," the man demanded as he held the woman against the wall with one arm while he motioned for the intruder to scram.

"I'd like to see you try," the would be hero scoffed.

"Oh yeah?" The man gave the woman a hard shove and she collapsed onto the ground shaking.

"What, you gonna put your pork chops on me, too?"

"Pork chops?" The attacker questioned as he approached the other man.

"Yeah, your hands, they're all meaty and pastey colored, like pork. You know the other white meat?"

"You little fuck, who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that?" The man slapped his fist against the palm of his other hand as he closed in on him. This was probably meant to intimidate, but it was cliché if anything.

"You kiss your grandma with that mouth?"

"Grandma's dead," the beefy man responded.

"She smell your breath and keel over?" Our hero mocked.

"Fuck off!" The man made to lunge at him, but his opponent was too quick and hopped aside as he pulled out his weapon of choice and brandished it before him. The man took one look at him and laughed.

"You coming at me with a stick? Ooo, I'm scared of your stick!" The man put his hands up and feigned terror.

"You should be. _Soap on a rope, soap fell off a rope, rope shot out of my hand, rope tie up that man,"_ his opponent said as he tossed a rope at the man's feet. The rope shot up like a cobra and ensnared the man who struggled in vain as the rope tightened around him.

"What the-?"

"You know," the hero said as he tucked the wand into his back pocket, "normally I'd need two other wizards to help me out with that spell, but I'm what you'd call a _full_ wizard, so I can totally do it myself. Nice huh?"

"W-wizard?" The man's eyes were wide in his skull as he stared first at his captor and then down at the ropes that were wrapped tightly around his body. He shook his head to rid himself of the initial shock and began struggling against his bonds only to succeed in falling to his behind.

"Good idea, have a seat," the wizard said as he made his way over to the startled young woman who stared at the man in ropes. He squatted in front of her until they were eye to eye. She turned her face to look at her hero and began stuttering.

"Y- y- you-" She couldn't get any words out as the wizard reached back to remove his wand once more before muttering a quick spell.

"_I'll take no offense just think of whatever best makes sense."_

"You were so fast tying him up," she finished as if it were her intended statement.

"I get that a lot," the wizard replied putting his wand out of sight and reaching out to grab the yellow bag that was lying beside her on the ground and began scooping the scattered contents back inside. She reached out and began helping before taking her bag back from him when he offered it.

"Thank you," she said finally as he helped her to her feet. The foiled attacker was now rolling around on his back trying desperately to free himself. The wizard and the young girl walked over and stared down at him.

"He's not as scary lying on the ground like that," she commented.

"He won't be scary sitting in a cell either," the wizard said, "in fact I think the other guys will enjoy those pudgy, soft hands of his," he added as he nudged the man with the toe of his shoe.

"Don't you touch me you freak!" The man said and moved away as best he could. He looked like a worm scooting across the ground. The wizard just shook his head and tsk tsked down at the man.

"Come on, I'll get you a cab," he said to the woman as he gestured to the New York street ahead. Once she was safe and on her way home he could take care of the man.

"What about him?" She asked as they headed toward the street.

"He's not going anywhere any time soon." It didn't take long for a yellow cab to pull up to the curb when he signaled.

"I can't believe how close I was to the street, but I couldn't get away from him," she said and looked like she was about to cry, "if you hadn't shown up…" her voice trailed off.

"Hey, just promise me that you'll be safer next time?"

"I will," she said as she slid into the cab. He shut the door behind her and stepped away from the curb. Her window rolled down and she looked up at him with expectant eyes.

"I forgot to ask, what's you're name?" She asked and he just gave her a smile and knocked twice on the hood of the cab signaling for the driver to take off. The cab was out of sight before she had a chance to protest. The wizard turned back to the man in the alley, and took out his wand again.

"Okay dumb ass, what do we do with you?" He asked as he tapped his wand against his own chin as if he were thinking, "what's your name?"

"Dale," the man blurted, "please don't hurt me."

"Ah, Dale. I'm not going to hurt you," the wizard replied. Funny how they all turn into sniveling babies.

"_Don't let Dale be a liar, the truth, the truth is on fire,"_ the wizard said, gesturing at the man with his wand. A faint halo appeared above Dale's head and he gave a very unmanly shriek of terror.

"What did you do to me?" He squeaked with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Just your basic truth spell," the wizard pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled 'ask me what I did today' on it and crumbled it up in his hand.

"HELP!" The man shouted from the ground. The wizard rolled his eyes and squatted beside the man.

"Now, now, I can think of something better to do with your mouth," he muttered and shoved the paper between the man's teeth.

"_Too bad they won't have a flail, take this man to New York's jail," _the wizard said and poked Dale with his wand. The man's eyes widened and he began to shake his head, but before he could mumble through his paper gag he was gone with a tiny puff of purple smoke. The wizard sighed and tucked his wand back into his pocket before heading back the way he came.

It didn't take long for him to come to the Waverly Substation. He pushed the door open and inhaled deeply. The smell of bread and fresh baked cookies filled his nostrils and his stomach gave an appreciative but commanding growl.

"I hear ya," he muttered in response as he made his way inside the restaurant.

"Max! Where have you been?" Jerry Russo demanded as he walked passed with a tray of sandwiches and sodas, "I could have used you an hour ago!"

"Sorry Dad. I was cleaning up the streets."

"That's ridiculous," Jerry responded, "there's a perfectly dirty floor for you the clean in here."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Max muttered as he grabbed an available apron. Food would have to wait.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this! Please review. I love reviews, they are delicious, I mean… Anyway! I took some liberties with the magic. I mixed my own spell creations with some I remembered from the show and changed a few rules, but eh.. it's all in good fun, right?


	2. The Lair

Disclaimer: Still don't own Wizards of Waverly Place, but I would love to!

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Lair**

Max took the stairs two at a time as he made his way down to the kitchen. The tantalizing smell of greasy bacon woke him out of a dead sleep. He was feeling pretty good about himself this morning and, after not getting a proper meal the night before, he was also starving.

"Morning Dad," Max said as he passed his father sitting at the table eating a plate of fried eggs, crispy bacon, buttered toast, and golden hash browns, "anymore food?" he continued as he made his way toward the fridge for a glass of orange juice. No pans of food sat on the stove top, no bread sat out waiting to be toasted. Max had somehow missed breakfast.

"No," Jerry replied as he easily forked into his food without looking away from his newspaper, "look at this," he ordered as he set the paper down for Max to see.

"What is it?" Max asked, knowing full well what his father was referring to.

"The police found another confessing criminal tied up in the lobby of the station!" Jerry announced through a mouth full of bacon and egg.

"Another one, huh?" Max asked with feigned ignorance, "what's that now? Four?"

"Five!" Jerry corrected happily, "it's like we have our own personal Batman or something. It's fantastic!"

Max smirked behind his juice glass as he listened to his dad recount all the events of the past few weeks.

"There was the purse snatcher, the car thief, that guy who was spray painting people's pets, and now this guy!" Jerry rambled between sips from his coffee.

"Don't forget the kid that was stealing the traffic signs," Max added as he poured himself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.

"Oh yeah," Jerry said as he quickly counted on his fingers until he got to five, "they say that this guy they found last night was rambling about ropes that moved on their own and magic sticks, he's obviously a lunatic," he continued as he tore into a piece of toast with his teeth. Max settled down across from his dad at the table.

"Unless," Jerry said suddenly causing Max to freeze with his spoon half way to his mouth. Drops of milk fell from the halted spoon as his eyes locked onto his father, wondering if he was going to piece information together.

"Unless he was on drugs," Jerry finished, "that stuff's dangerous. Makes you see all kinds of crazy things."

Max let out the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding as he spooned his cereal into his mouth. Both Russo's looked up when they heard the front door open. Theresa walked in carrying a brown grocery bag in each arm and struggling to hold onto a third with the fingertips of her left hand.

"A little help here?" She asked as the third bag tried to slip from her grasp. Max hurried to grab the bags from his mother. He took them to the counter and started to empty out the contents.

"You know, I thought the grocery bill would go down after Justin and Alex moved out, but the two of you make up for their absence," Theresa said as she placed a carton of eggs in the fridge.

"Jerry," she began as she turned to look at her husband, "did you eat the eggs that were in here?" He looked up with wide eyes.

"Jerry! Those were expired!" His wife told him, "that's why I left so early to shop."

Max was suddenly thankful that there hadn't been any food leftover when he got up. An unsettled stomach wouldn't work for his look out tonight.

"I'll be fine," Jerry replied waving his hand as if he was shooing a bug, "I've got an iron stomach."

"Uh huh, I'll remember you said that when you're begging me for Pepto Bismal later," Theresa said as she removed the bubble gum pink liquid from one of the grocery bags. Max was fumbling with the wrapper of a cheese stick when his mother turned her attention on him. She grabbed the snack from him, opened it and shoved it back into his waiting hands. Though he hated that his mother still felt compelled to baby him, he still bit into the snack with relish and chewed happily as he pawed through the rest of the bags. Theresa swatted his hands away.

"And you, Max," she began, "I have no idea what it is you do at all hours of the night that causes you to work up such an appetite, but it needs to stop." Theresa ordered as she put items away in the cupboards.

"Come on, Mom, I'm not hurting anyone," Max insisted as he threw away the plastic from his cheese stick.

"Oh no?" She replied with her hand on her hip, "what about your father? He almost had a heart attack when you burst through the door at 2 AM."

"I didn't think anyone would be awake," Max replied.

"I heard a noise," Jerry defended himself.

"In the fridge, Jerry?" Theresa questioned turning her attention back to her husband.

Max thought this was the prefect opportunity to escape in case his mother decided to start asking more questions. He wasn't ready for anyone to know that he's the one running around the city capturing random baddies. He knew that his parents would only try talking him out of it. Jerry would be afraid that Max would expose magic to the world and Theresa would worry that her baby was going to hurt himself. Neither would think that he was perfectly capable of caring for himself. He won the wizard competition against Justin and Alex fair and square. No one had to give up their powers to him and despite Alex's best efforts to coerce information out of him, he didn't cheat. No one believed him when he said that he was going to start studying more. He got in contact with his tutor, Tutor, again and she really helped him focus on what was important. Before he knew it he was passing Alex in lessons and catching up to Justin. When the three Russo's each finished their training it was time for the competition. The rest was history. Now it was two years later and eighteen year old Max had found his purpose in life.

Max escaped down the stairs into the darkness that was the restaurant. The lights were off, chairs rested upside down on the table tops. It was Sunday and therefore the Waverly Substation was closed. If it were up to Jerry they would stay open seven days a week, but Theresa insisted that they needed at least one day to spend together as a family. Though they all used to groan about it, it really was nice to spend a day together. Justin had recently graduated from N.Y.U and was preparing to enter medical school. Alex left home as soon as she graduated high school in order to pursue what she called "the life of a tortured artist." That didn't go over well with Theresa, she would have preferred if her daughter went to college, but Jerry was just thrilled that he didn't have to pay for a another round of education. Max had recently graduated from high school himself and wasn't sure about the whole college thing. There was no way he would be able to keep up with college course work and keep the city safe, but he couldn't explain that to his parents.

Max made his way through the kitchen and walked into their veggie cooler that quickly shifted at his presence and turned into the lair. His lair now. He shut the door behind him, hoping that his parents knew enough to give him some space. Max pulled out his wand and muttered his revealing spell.

"_Sparkle and sheen, all that was hidden is now seen." _The lair began to shift and change before his eyes. The desk expanded and topped with clutter. Multiple monitor screens filled the space behind it with a mess of cords dangling from each one. Jars of potion ingredients sat haphazardly around the room, where ever Max was when he stopped using it was where it sat. Whispers of old spells rested in the corners of the lair sparking and twisting into tendrils of colored smoke that periodically lashed out at Max when he came too close, like a cat batting playfully at its owners feet from beneath a table. Max had performed so many test spells and potions in the lair that their essence hung around for awhile. Sometimes they collided with each other and caused mini explosions. So far they haven't done any permanent damage. The chairs that sat in the center of the room disappeared and were replaced by a large metal table with an attached sink. The table was topped with various potion vials and beakers. One vial was tipped over and its contents, having been left out over night, ate a hole right through the metal table.

"Good to know that works then, I guess," Max muttered out loud as he picked up the vial and replaced it in a random holder. He would tend to the hole later. Right now he just wanted to work on some reading. When he was younger he assumed that being a full wizard would mean a life of fun, but when his fingers touched the magic during the competition, he made a promise and that promise was now his sole responsibility. He made his way to the corner of the room where an overstuffed chair sat facing a fireplace. This was where he kept the family spell books in floor to ceiling bookshelves. Many dusty volumes rested on each shelf, but sometimes they weren't enough for what Max needed and he had to invent his own. He wasn't the greatest at coming up with spells, but he tried to make them quick and catchy. He grabbed his notebook and removed the cap of his pen with his teeth as he flipped to the last page he was working on.

About an hour later Max was still working on spells. He was trying to combine the spell to walk on walls with a levitation spell in order to temporarily give him the ability to fly. It was more complicated than he thought it would be. The longest he was able to stay in the air was five minutes. That wouldn't be nearly long enough. What if he was flying between buildings and it took longer than that to get from one to the other? He'd plummet to his death and New York's sidewalks were messy enough without a giant Max stain. He gave a sigh of frustration as he tapped the pen against his notebook where he had various versions of the spell crossed off and words circled.

"What the heck rhymes with clear?" He asked the lair.

"How about here? As in, what's going on here?" A voice from the doorway replied. Max sprang up out of his chair and faced the intruder. He was greeted by the face of his brother.

* * *

A/N: Yay, Justin! So, what do you think so far? Give me your feedback. I'd love to hear when you think.


	3. Nerd Alert

Disclaimer: I still don't own Wizards of Waverly Place. I wish I did though, I'd be rich!

Hero

**Chapter 3: Nerd Alert**

"Justin!" Max exclaimed as he made his way over to his brother, tripping over a rogue stumbling spell as he went, "what are you doing here, man?" He asked when he finally reached the doorway.

"It's Sunday," Justin replied as he looked beyond Max and into the lair, "family day. But forget that, Max, what have you done to the lair?" Max raked his fingers through his wavy brown hair and pulled Justin into the room. He closed and locked the door behind him.

"Listen," Max began as he turned his attention back to Justin who was looking around in amazement, "I just made a few changes is all."

"I'll say," Justin replied as he poked his finger through the hole in the metal table, "disintegrating potion?" He asked looking over at his little brother.

"Yeah," Max replied.

"Acid base?" Justin asked.

"Salt water," Max said.

"Nice. Paired with accelerating powder?"

"Yep. It gives the damage a more natural look that way if I use somewhere it won't look out of place," Max replied. He forgot how good it felt to talk about magic with someone who knew it inside and out. Justin moved on from the table to the ingredients pantry. The cupboard doors were open and some were off their hinges entirely (disarray spell gone wrong) and there really was no method to the madness.

"Dad knows about this?" Justin asked as he picked up jars and unscrewed their caps. Max resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"No," he replied, "and he doesn't have to know. It's my lair now. I can do whatever I want with it."

"Right," Justin said as he held one jar of what looked like tiny orange beads in front of his eyes, "so, Dad just walks in and doesn't freak out?"

"No. I have a shielding charm over the room," Max replied crossing his arms over his chest. Justin looked over at Max with one eyebrow arched as if to point out the obvious flaw in Max's previous point about it being _his_ lair.

"It's not because I'm ashamed or anything," Max defended, "I just don't need him asking questions is all." Justin was silent for a moment as he continued to stare at the orange bead jar.

"What is this?" He finally asked holding the jar out to Max, "it's not labeled and I don't think I've ever seen it before." Max took the jar from Justin and sniffed the contents. His nose was greeted by a faint fruity scent. He dipped his finger into the jar, removed one of the orange beads and popped it into his mouth.

"Ah," he began with realization, "eye of citrus newt."

"Argh!" Justin gave a disgusted sound, "don't eat that!" He said as he took the jar back and quickly screwed the lid back onto it.

"What? It's harmless," Max replied with a shrug.

"That's not how you identify all your ingredients, is it?" Justin asked horrified at the thought.

"Sometimes smell is enough," Max replied.

"Max, that's dangerous," Justin lectured, "some of this stuff can cause serious harm to your body."

"You're telling me," Max responded, "this one time, I tried some essence of frog's breath and it gave me warts on my-"

"Never mind," Justin cut in holding his hands up in front of him and shutting his eyes, "please _do not_ finish that sentence."

"Alright, fine," Max said, "hey, now that you're here there's something I want to show you," he added.

"Is it all these monitors you have back here?" Justin asked as he made his way toward the desk beside the portal.

"No, it's actually a spell that can make my head disappear! You know, like the headless horseman," Max replied as he reached for his wand.

"Why would you do that?" Justin asked as he rummaged through the papers covering the desk.

"I don't know," Max said with a shrug, "because it looks cool?"

"How would you know if you didn't have a head?" Justin argued, "speaking of, how do you get it back?"

"It's a timed spell," Max explained.

"Ah," Justin replied as he finally found a remote, "so what do you do with all these?" He asked as he pointed it at the wall.

"Nothing," Max replied as he hurried to Justin's side and made a grab for the control in his brother's hand. The effort was too little too late as Justin's finger found the power button and the screens lit up showing various areas of New York City in full color.

"What the-" Justin said as his eyes passed over each screen individually, "what is this, Max?"

"Sight seeing?" Max offered with a half hearted grin. He watched as Justin walked around the desk and tried to take in the scenes he saw on the screens. There was video of the substation, screens dedicated to Central Park, the Empire State Building and various other streets and businesses throughout the city. He did his best to be thorough with his surveillance.

"Is that…" Justin glanced over at his brother as he pointed to a screen at the top, "is that the Statue of Liberty?"

"Yeah," Max began, "tourists can get pretty crazy," he added wondering how Justin was going to react to this.

"What the hell is this, Max, are you some kind of voyeur or something?"

"Well, I don't know what that means, but I'm not a pervert or anything. I just…" his voice trailed off. How did he explain this to his brother? If his parents didn't approve of his crime fighting, Justin wouldn't either. He was always a rule follower. He would say that it was up to the cops to handle the trash on the street and that Max should just stay out of it. Max grabbed the remote from his brother and shut the power off to the screens.

"Just forget it," he said as he tossed the remote back into the mess of papers on the desk.

"I can't un-see that, Max, it's not exactly normal for someone to have a bunch of cameras set up all over the city so they can watch people," Justin argued as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't watch people, Max defended, "well, I mean yeah, I watch people but I don't _watch _them.I watch … over them."

"What do you mean you watch over them?" Justin asked, narrowing his eyes, "that doesn't make sen- oh my God," realization crossed his brother's face and his hand rose to his mouth in shock, "you're Stick Boy!" He exclaimed his eyes widen and his fingers jabbing in Max's direction. Creativity was obviously not a high point when it came to the tabloids naming vigilantes.

"Man I wish they would have come up with a better name," Max sighed, "you pull out a wand and everyone just thinks it's a stick!" He vented as he waved his wand in the air. For a moment Justin was too dazed to speak instead he stood rooted to the floor staring at his younger brother with a mixture of shock and admiration on his face. The latter being a look that Max was definitely not used to seeing aimed in his direction.

"You're like," Justin finally began to speak as he still stared at Max in awe, "you're like a super hero." Max was surprised by Justin's reaction to this revelation. He fully expected his brother to freak out and reprimand him for the danger he puts himself in and how it was interfering with the justice system, but Justin didn't say any of that.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Justin asked. Max merely shook his head as he was afraid that the sound of his voice would somehow change Justin's mood.

"This means we need to get you a super suit!" Justin said.

A/N: Sorry it took longer for me to get this chapter up! Anyway, please review! I'd like to hear what you think! :)


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